


Twenty Years After

by dolores



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 11:47:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10217333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dolores/pseuds/dolores
Summary: Remembering the important things, and how it all began.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Ignores comic canon, and probably skirts a little close to mature at a couple of points just to warn you!

“Hey, Oz, you know what today is?”

Xander sounded oddly wistful, his good eye staring off into the middle distance.

“No, should I?”

“I guess not. You weren’t around in those days – well, I guess you were, but we didn’t know you.”

An anniversary, then. Xander was always good at remembering those, the unofficial keeper of the Scooby calendar. All their birthdays, of course, but dates of other important celebrations in the history of their little group: Giles and Olivia’s wedding; Willow’s graduation from Oxford; Dawn’s first exhibition at art school; the many comings out. Just as importantly, he remembered the days they didn’t celebrate, but needed to mark just the same: the deaths of Jenny, Larry, Tara, Anya, Cordelia, Joyce.

Oz couldn’t decide whether this day was celebration or commemoration. He was curious, but remained silent, letting Xander elaborate in his own time.

The window was open and gentle sounds of a bright spring morning drifted through the window: the light breeze picking up and shivering through the leaves of the shrubbery, the twitter of birds. The suddenly cool air raised gooseflesh on Oz’s forearm, and he watched, fascinated, as the golden hairs stood on end.

Xander sat up in bed, quilt falling away to reveal a bare torso. “It’s 20 years since Buffy Summers started at Sunnydale High.”

On the face of it, this was a celebration – yet Oz frowned just a little. Something wasn’t quite right, the tone of Xander’s voice just a little too flat, the eye still seeing something that wasn’t there.

Then he realised: “Jesse.”

The day Buffy came to Sunnydale was the day poor Jesse left.

Xander nodded. “I mean, I couldn’t imagine Buffy not being in our lives, she changed everything for the better. But maybe if she’d come a day earlier, Jesse could have been here too.”

Oz had never known Jesse, except maybe as one of many interchangeable freshmen he’d passed by in the hall. Xander and Willow rarely spoke of him, though less because they did not think of him as they didn’t like to talk about it.

“Just feels wrong. Willow and I got Buffy as a best friend, we’d never change that for anything. But we lost a best friend too – when I think about all the things he’s missed out on… What he could have been.”

Oz sat up now too, reaching over to take Xander in his arms, pressing his lips on Xander’s neck and his own bare chest pressed against Xander’s arm and side. They held each other for a time, Xander’s fingers threading through the short red hair at the top of Oz’s head.

“You think Jesse was gay too?”

“Maybe.”

“I wish I’d known to ask.”

Oz refrained from making his usual reminder Xander that he, Oz, preferred to identify as bisexual.

It certainly wouldn’t be surprising if Jesse had liked boys. Oz had returned to the Scooby fold ten years previously, the wolf more under control than ever. He’d wondered how Willow would take the news that he was not wholly heterosexual himself, a situation he’d come to accept following a brief but intense relationship in Hong Kong with a bow-tied Englishman who reminded him of a young Giles, and who was possibly some sort of time traveller. In the event, she’d squealed in glee, and said that she’d always wondered, indeed slightly hoped this was the case. Not only that but he was only one of many: Andrew Wells and Scott Hope were not only gay but had got together; it turned out that Spike and Xander had slept with one another back in the day, as had Angel and Spike even further back; Buffy had had a lesbian fling with Faith; there was Kennedy; Willow herself obviously; she’d heard Percy West had won Mr Gay Miami the other year; Devon would sleep with anyone who offered – oh and they couldn’t forget poor Larry…

Giles had eventually published a paper in the _British Journal of Watcher Studies_ on the effects of Hellmouths on sexual orientation, believing the incidence of homosexual behaviour among Sunnydale High alumni to be far too high to be mere chance. “And I went to public school,” he’d added, gravely. “With Ethan.”

Nevertheless, everyone had accepted the situation with equanimity. Granted, ahead of the Wells-Hope nuptials in 2008 (the boys taking advantage of the all-too-brief window between the court decision that spring and Prop 8) Buffy had declared herself a little “wigged out”, though this was rather less by the thought of her ex-boyfriend marrying another man so much as him marrying Andrew. Oz wondered just how she’d feel if she knew Andrew liked to play ‘Buffy and Angel’ with Scott, though he looked remarkably convincing in his halter-neck top and hoop earrings (Oz now made it a policy to always knock on the door when they stayed over, even if it was the door to his own living room).

They’d looked even better on their wedding day itself, in matching tweed waistcoats and crimson silk bow ties. Their look had reminded Oz forcefully of his love affair the previous year, and, having not so much as kissed another person since, he had felt the strong need to ‘panic’ by the late evening. As a groomsman (a request from Andrew and Scott that had touched him greatly), tradition dictated he seduce a bridesmaid, but as they were busy seducing each other – Willow and Kennedy’s off-on relationship rivalling Burton and Taylor, and Faith making a play for Buffy once more – he set his sights on the extremely handsome best man.

Truth be told, they’d been building up to that night. What Xander’s attempts at flirtation lacked in subtlety they more than made up for in genuine sweetness. In the months leading up to the wedding he’d made clear his interest on several occasions, complimenting Oz’s clothes or his music. For his part, Oz had found himself increasingly attracted to Xander, who had become broad and muscled and burly as he’d aged, and better still, was cutting his dark hair quite short. This, along with ‘bookish Englishman’, would appear to be the two types Oz went for. He couldn’t imagine why; his utterly filthy masturbation fantasies involving Angel and Giles were of course entirely coincidental. Even so, Oz had remained reserved, not sure if Xander really wanted what Oz wanted, or simply some fun.

Xander and Oz had ended up in a corner of the party with a fifth of Scotch, discussing how they had come to realise they were gay or bisexual while other guests danced to camp pop tunes. Xander described it almost that he’d woken up one morning and decided he was gay – Oz wondered about that suddenness; too many spells had gone awry for magic not to be a possibility – but Xander assured him it was simply a genuine epiphany. Given his experiences with Spike and what he now recognised as a latent attraction to Angel, Riley and Larry, the signs had always been there. Oz, on the other hand, had always sort of known – Devon had been his first before Willow – but his feelings for Willow were so intense he’d decided it had been some sort of phase. Nothing to be worried about, but not a clue to the future. It was only after his English friend he realised that’s simply how he did love: all or nothing. It could be that the next great love was a woman, but – here he looked away from Xander, coy – he suspected it might well be a man.

When Oz finished speaking, he turned back and Xander’s face was very close, the sweet smell of Scotch on his breath strong. Xander hovered there, waiting for a signal to close the last few inches.

Oz tilted his head then asked: “Are you sure you want this? Because it can’t be a one-night stand. Want more. Want everything.”

Xander lifted a hand to cup Oz’s jaw, warm thumb stroking his cheek. “I’m sure, Oz.”

They kissed like their lives depended on it, Xander’s lips hot and sweet, stubble just rough enough, hands gripping Oz’s arms tight. Over the sound of Madonna’s _Hung Up_ he was sure he could hear Willow squeal like she had a year before, Andrew declare, “Best. Wedding. Ever.” and Spike grunt, "Finally."

Thankfully the wedding venue was a hotel, and they made it to Xander’s bedroom before Oz could resist no longer, pulling off Xander’s clothes until none remained. He was every bit as beautiful as Oz had imagined.

Oz guessed that he exceeded expectations. Not so much in relation to his body, though Xander seemed more than interested as Oz stripped to reveal his pale skin, rose-pink nipples and wiry frame – but more when Oz slid off his plaid boxers and stood, naked, in a state of full and highly impressive arousal. Xander made a sort of strangulated noise then gasped: “Willow never _said_. Oh my God, Oz.”

The next morning at breakfast, even Buffy’s bad mood couldn’t shift the dreamy look from Xander’s face.

She stabbed at her eggs Benedict bitterly. “As if you didn’t hear the screams. I can’t believe you two were getting to boink the night away while we got attacked by vampires. Nobody died, sure, but I ripped my dress. _Again_. Why can’t I have nice things? Why can’t I just enjoy a wedding without having to stake someone?”

That was the thing about life as a Scooby, Oz had reflected, as Buffy continued to complain. For every good moment – like Andrew and Scott getting married, or he and Xander getting together, there would usually be something lousy to follow. Sometimes they arrived at the same time.

Back in their bed, head nestled into Xander’s shoulder, Oz worked out that it would be nine years since that night in the coming summer. Not a nice, round number, but as he traced his fingers down Xander’s chest, marvelling at how he found Xander ever more attractive as he aged, Oz made a mental note to do something to celebrate all the same. Treasure the moments while you had them, because they might not come again.

“Hey, you should call Willow and Buffy. Don’t have to mention the date, just see how they are.”

Xander nodded, then squeezed Oz tight. “Yeah, I think I will.”

**Author's Note:**

> It's been 20 years since the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is not only one of the best shows ever made, but created one of the best fandoms. This is my very modest tribute, with more than a few references to the fanon and other jokes my friends shared at the time. Thank you to Joss and thank you to them.


End file.
